Tucker's attack powers BYU in shutout of Gonzaga

PROVO, Utah – No. 16 BYU women’s soccer won its fourth straight match on Saturday with a 4-0 shutout of Gonzaga at South Field.

“It was a great game for us, right from the beginning,” said head coach Jen Rockwood. “We’ve played a few full 90-minute games here recently, and I think the team is really making progress.”

The Cougars were on the attack from the moment they stepped on the pitch. Makaylie Call opened the scoring for BYU with a goal in the 10th minute. Call’s second goal of the season came off an assist from Cameron Tucker and followed two straight shots from Tucker that went off the crossbar of the net.

Tucker continued leading BYU’s scoring onslaught with another assist to Jamie Shepherd for a goal in the 25th minute. The Zags would counterattack moments later, only to be stopped by Cassidy Smith with the first of her three saves on the day. Another save from Smith in the 42nd minute, kept BYU in command, 2-0, at the half.

BYU wasted little time in the second half before extending its lead to 3-0 with a Mikayla Colohan goal off an assist from Rachel McCarthy in the 49th minute. Tucker went from assisting to scoring in the 67th minute, as she recorded her fifth goal of the season to put the Zags away at 4-0.

“Cam [Tucker] is such a hard worker,” Rockwood said. "We told her to just go out there and do what she does, which is run hard, both on offense and defense. She went out and did that and good things happened.”

Tucker’s goal came off an assist from Call and gave BYU its fourth straight match scoring at least four goals.

Despite BYU keeping much of the game on Gonzaga’s side of the field, the Zags slipped past the Cougar defense and nearly broke the shutout with 43 seconds remaining. Once again, Smith stymied the Zags’ attack with her third save of the day to preserve the shutout.

“I’m really proud of the clean sheet that we kept today,” Rockwood said. "I thought Cass [Smith] had a stellar game today and her best full 90 minutes. She was challenged and came up with big saves. She distributed well, and that’s what you need from your keeper.”

With the win over Gonzaga, BYU (8-3, 5-1 WCC) stands alone at second place in the WCC behind only Santa Clara. The Cougars now face a four-match stretch on the road, beginning with crucial matches at Santa Clara on Wednesday, March 31 at 7 p.m. PDT and at St. Mary’s on Saturday April 3 at 1 p.m. PDT. Both games will be broadcast live on the BYU Sports Network – BYU Radio 107.9 FM/BYU Cougars App.

Game Notes

• The Cougars exceeded their shots per game average of 20.7, with 25 against the Zags on Saturday.
• Mikayla Colohan scored her 10th goal of the season and 34th of her career on Saturday. With this latest goal, Colohan continues her ascension up BYU’s all-time career scoring list. She now sits alone at ninth, having passed former Cougar-great Michele Murphy Vasconcelos’s (2012-16) 33 career goals.